This is Tobias Rieder. His 2011-12 OHL season suggests we should pay attention to him this season. What can he do? A lot.

Rieder was selected in the 2011 entry draft, 114th overall. Some scouting services liked him better (Redline: #58) and most had nice things to say and some insight into the reasons teams were passing over him:

Redline: Undersized, but exceptionally smart playmaking winger with excellent offensive instincts and creativity. Has decent speed, but lacks the explosive first step burst and acceleration you’d like to see in a player his size. Super soft hands and slick with the puck in tight; can create separation with sharp cuts/turns. Sees the ice very well and can saucer touch passes through traffic off either side of the blade. Makes imaginative set-ups, often surpassing his mates with unexpected plays. Average shot, but has good finishing ability from the circles in with a quick release he hides well. Anticipates developing plays, stepping in to intercept passes and start quick counterattacks in transition. Desperately needs to pack on muscle – lost weight during the season and was out of gas from January on. Not afraid to go into the corners and will take hits, but can’t battle effectively.

Rieder's 17-year old OHL season (65, 23-26-49) was good enough to get him drafted, and his follow-up season offers more hope (60, 42-43-85). Lets break down his season by discipline and compare his 11-12 totals with two Oiler 2nd rders from 2010--Curtis Hamilton and Tyler Pitlick. We are comparing the season after each player was drafted.

EVENS

NAME

GP

G

A

PTS

PTS/GM

CURTIS HAMILTON

62

17

33

50

.806

TOBIAS RIEDER

60

26

19

45

.750

TYLER PITLICK

56

22

19

41

.732

Interesting numbers here, we see that all three players had solid even strength numbers. The 26 goals by Rieder is especially interesting: Jordan Eberle scored 25 EV goals the year he popped 50 in the WHL. Rieder looks very good compared to the 2nd rders from 2010 when looking at even strength. Hamilton's team (310 goals) was a powerhouse, Pitlick's team (265 goals) a solid contender and Rieder's club (253 goals) about the same. Based on those circumstances, I think you could make a case for Rieder having the superior season at even strength. Time on ice would be invaluable here.

PP

NAME

GP

G

A

PTS

PTS/GM

TOBIAS RIEDER

60

9

22

31

.517

CURTIS HAMILTON

62

6

18

24

.387

TYLER PITLICK

56

5

16

21

.375

Rieder had a much better season than the other two on the PP. Rieder's team scored 62 PP goals, telling us he was 'in on' half of them and that would translate to significant TOI during the man advantage. Hamilton was part of 36% of his team's PP goals and Pitlick 30%. So we can certainly give credit to Rieder for the PP, the caveat being icetime may have been more plentiful. Rieder took advantage of any opportunity given and that's a positive. That assist total is impressive, ranking him 8th in the OHL last season.

PK

NAME

GP

G

A

PTS

PTS/GM

TOBIAS RIEDER

60

7

2

9

.150

CURTIS HAMILTON

62

3

5

8

.129

TYLER PITLICK

56

0

0

0

nil

Pitlick wasn't much of a PK option in MH and the other two guys were stalwarts at the discipline. Hamilton's team scored 22 pk goals--leading the league--and his % of overall points (36%) matches his PP output. As well, Rieder's team scored 17 SH goals, meaning he was part of 53% of those shorthanded goals for. As with the PP, Rieder appears to have been a TOI giant for his team.

CONCLUSIONS

Rieder's reputation is as an undersized skill player, terrific playmaker and a basic nightmare for opposition defenders. The numbers above suggest the same, and that Rieder can be compared to 2nd rd picks Hamilton and Pitlick (remember he was a 4th rder) and appears to be tracking as well or better.

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?

Germany has given us many things worthwhile. We don't have time on ice, so cannot state for a fact that Rieder is a better offensive player in his year after draft than Curtis Hamilton or Tyler Pitlick were at the same point in their careers. Having said that, based on what we do know and what the numbers available tell us, it would seem to me that Stu MacGregor and his staff plucked a 2nd round player in the fourth round of the 2011 entry draft.

We know from observing Hamilton and Pitlick in the AHL that solid 18-year old junior seasons do not guarantee success at a higher level. However, Tobias Rieder can only flourish in the waters available, and he certainly has done that much so far.

Tobias Rieder is worth watching closely this coming season.

Lowetide has been one of the Oilogosphere's shining lights for over a century. You can check him out here at OilersNation and at lowetide.ca. He is also the host of Lowdown with Lowetide weekday mornings 10-noon on TSN 1260.

mmm...i LOVE liver and onions ...best L&O's can be had at The Commadore downtown ...tell Willy PG sentcha ...in the meantime Q take some of that tin foil off ur knuckles and put your onions and easy as pie new spuds together and heavem' on the grill ...

On any other team this would be great. For the Oilers it is another small skilled forward. Yeaaaah.

Problem is even if the Oilers see this guy as a solid player or a chip to be played later, how do you develop / showcase this asset with all the little guys in the "skill" positions?

Same issue they are having with Omark. Where / when can you give him the chance to prove whether he is a Briere, a Wellwood or a career AHLer.

There lies the rub.

They don't have to worry about that any time soon. Who knows what the roster will look like in 2 years, after Rieder has played next year in the OHL and a year in the AHL (assuming they get him signed before the deadline and before he goes back into the 2013 draft)?

This has lately been a common refrain in Oilerland but the success or failure of this rebuild won't depend entirely on players like Hall, Eberle, Yakupov or Nugent-Hopkins. As much as they will bear the responsibility for the team accomplishing something in the post-season (ie: winning a Stanley Cup), as much of that will depend on this team's ability to draft, develop, and play average to above-average replacement players.

The team will need to find a plentiful supply of high-end replacement cogs for when the supporting players like Pitlick, Rieder, or Paajarvi become too expensive and have to be traded off in order to retain the core and retool around them. When Oiler management talk about the Detroit model, this is something I take as implied. Finding players to replace their Draper-Maltby combination, or slotting in a new d-man to replace an outgoing veteran, and so on.

Rieder (and Pelss for that matter) are two players that I identify with that philosophy. Both can be brought along slowly, sheltered - if not hidden, really - by the spotlight that will be cast on our big four forwards.

I started paying really close attention to Rieder earlier this past season, mostly out of curiosity. I was impressed and in fact even compared him over at FlamesNation to Sven Baertschi's CHL playoff numbers (that really didn't go over well).

Also, does that second photo and the scouting report not look/read just a little bit like Zach Parise?

It's nice to see that most of Stu's picks are at least showing promise early on. So much can go wrong like injuries and poor development decisions but at least Stu is making picks that have a chance to outperform their draft position.

Its been said and pointed out a hundred times, that there are many "smallish" players/stars in the NHL that fall into the smurf category. The problem is that the Oilers, regardless of size big or small, [ excepting: Peckham, and Sutton perhaps] this team under Renney did not play "hardnosed hockey" .. You can be small and still play tough hockey.

Can't see Hamilton EVER cracking the Oiler line up.
Another example of a guy with size , playing a pretty soft game.